The Child of Prophecy
Chapter 7
When Naruto awoke, he found himself meeting the eyes of the ANBU Commander, who asked him to relay the events that occurred at Point Alpha.
Once he was done informing the Commander of the successful elimination of close to 3,000 enemy shinobi, he was asked to attend a meeting.
Quickly getting dressed, Naruto followed the Commander to a large tent that no doubt held only the higher-ups in their force. Before entering, Naruto looked around and was pleased to see the incredible amount of Konoha Shinobi that were hard at work. Now this was an army! Naruto guessed that there were around 13,000 men and women going about their duties all over the camp, and their were probably more doing tasks out of sight. Rows and rows of tents seemed to stretch on in a grid format.
Once Naruto was done, he entered the tent and was surprised to see several prominent Shinobi seated in a semi circle arguing over strategies and tactics. They all stopped, however, upon his entry.
"Naruto-kun, I'm so happy to see you safe." Kushina exclaimed in a relieved tone, happy her son survived the initial scuffle.
Naruto merely smiled and nodded at his mother before standing next to Jiraiya, who was standing in front of the semi-circle.
"Now that Naruto has arrived, let us begin this meeting. First order of business, please inform us of what occurred at Point Alpha." The makeshift council leader, Shikaku Nara, said to Naruto and Jiraiya.
"Naruto and I were, with the assistance of 5 Konoha shinobi, able to eliminate roughly 3,000 enemy troops at the cost of four of our own. The only other survivor was a female Hyuuga that still resides in the hospital." Jiraiya calmly said before stepping back to stand with Naruto once again.
"That is both good and sorrowful to hear Jiraiya-sama. More enemy dead than expected, but at the cost of more of our own Shinobi. Thank you, Hokage-sama has requested you back at Point Gamma." Shikaku said before watching Jiraiya leave the tent.
"Naruto, step forward."
"Yes?" Naruto asked while stepping forward.
"We have an assignment for you and one other. It is an extremely important mission."
"Well, of course I'm up for it, but who will I be working with?"
"Someone you are quite familiar with, send him in." Shikaku said before yelling the last part to the guards outside the tent.
And just as the tent flaps parted, Naruto was relieved to see a very familiar set of glowing red eyes.
"Itachi Uchiha will be accompanying you on the mission," Shikaku stated before explaining their undercover mission.
"Iwa forces are estimated to be here in three days, with numbers twice the size of the remaining force you fought, Naruto. We have sufficient forces to combat this assault, but we do not wish to have a long drawn out war like the previous one. We have compiled a list of prominent enemy nin scattered throughout the regular forces that you are to eliminate. These ninja range from A-S rank, which is why we are sending you both together. You are to begin this mission once we have made contact with the enemy, and you will have up to a month to complete it. With these nins dead, we will be able to have a much easier time fighting the grunts. Do you accept this mission?" Kushina asked.
"Yes."
"Hai."
"Good. Dismissed." Kushina handed them the list.
On that note, Naruto and Itachi left the tent and began aimlessly walking around the camp.
"Just like old times, eh Itachi?" Naruto asked.
"So it seems. How was the initial fight?"
"Personally, I really didn't do that much. It was mostly Jiraiya-sama who dealt the most damage, I was more or less support for him."
"I'm sorry for your comrades who perished."
"Yea, but at least they died early so that wouldn't have to survive through this stupid war. Let's see who our targets are." Naruto said.
"Who's first on the list?" Itachi asked.
"The Crumbling Stone, it says. An Iwa Shinobi, A-class, known abilities are the impressive used of the substitution technique with rock clones, which gave him the title. Says here that he can cover himself up with stones to become a miniature golem, interesting. What strategies do you figure?" Naruto asked before Itachi and him began planning their mission's first assassination, out of nine. Each one seemed to get progressively harder, with two of them causing Naruto and Itachi to gulp nervously.
The next few days were spent with Naruto still recovering and spending time with his mom and baby sister before reviewing with Itachi and light training to get him battle-ready.
Before they knew it, Naruto and Itachi had to leave camp in the middle of the night and head due NorthWest to flank the enemy and infiltrate. The journey was incredibly fast paced, but also silent. There was no room for a mistake now that they were in enemy territory, not that they mistakes anyway, they were the best after all.
It was just before the break of dawn when they covered themselves in Itachi's elaborate genjutsu and waited for the enemy to pass.
Even for two of the most dangerous ANBU operatives in the Leaf, remaining calm when literally thousands of enemies walked right past you was no easy chore, and a light sheen of sweat dripped off of both of them. Suddenly, a man began walking in their direction, intent on investigating on why he could smell sweat from the base of a tree. However, someone called out to him and he grumbled to himself before turning around and walking back to his position in the march.
Naruto and Itachi's breath both hitched when their very target walked into view before leaning up against a tree. It appeared that he intended on skipping out of the oncoming battle, which was fine for Naruto and Itachi because that just made their job that much easier. The fighting would take place roughly two miles from their current position, and that gave them plenty of comfort. Far off in the distance, Naruto and Itachi heard the sound of an explosion, meaning that the battle was now underway.
Naruto scanned their vicinity for other Chakra systems with his Preta Path before signalling Itachi to weave a high level genjutsu over the area to hide the murder. Once Itachi was done, they both left the cover of their hiding place and startled their first assassination victim.
"Who are you? Wait those are Konoha headbands! You've just made a big mistake kids, get ready to say hi to all your dead relatives!" And with that declaration, he charged at Naruto and Itachi with a kunai in both hands. His attack failed though when Naruto blocked his right hand, while his left just harmlessly passed straight through "Itachi."
And before he could realize what had happened, Naruto's tanto was planted firmly between his ribs. Just for him to crumble into small stones.
"So you kids have a little skill, but that won't be enough to stop me!" The enemy yelled before throwing some kunai at the pair before rapidly forming seals.
"Mud Bullet Jutsu!" The man yelled before he shot several globs of mud at Naruto at high speeds.
Deciding not to give away any secrets by revealing his trump cards, Naruto just jumped in the air to avoid the deadly globs of earth.
"Now you're dead kid!" The man said before shooting out more globs while Naruto was in the air, knowing he couldn't dodge in midair. And that is why he was surprised when Naruto seemed to dodge all of them, even though he had relatively good accuracy. That was when he realized he had been caught in a subtle genjutsu and dispelled it with a sudden burst of Chakra, and not a moment too soon. As soon as his vision corrected itself and he was aware of the real world, he was forced to duck under two kunai's that whizzed past his head.
"Well let's see how you handle this! Rock Armour Jutsu!" The Iwa nin called out before he was encased in a stony suit of armour.
He then rushed at the boys, confident that he would be protected from any thing they could retaliate with. He swung at Naruto, who ducked under the swing but was forced to block a kick that still sent him flying into a tree. Itachi suddenly materialized behind the stone man and placed a few exploding seals on his back before dissappearing again.
Itachi reappeared near Naruto and activated his seals. The result was a small, but concentrated, explosion that rocket the man towards them.
"Preta." Itachi said before jumping towards the enemy, Naruto close on his heels.
Preta was the command that let Naruto know that Itachi was going to try and capture the opponent in a genjutsu while he was supposed to disrupt their Chakra, stopping them from escaping. The plan would have worked, except for the fact that once Itachi got close enough, he could see that their was no man inside to armour.
"He substituted again." Itachi said before using his Sharingan to detect local Chakra signatures. He suddenly rushed off to the left and reappeared chasing the man, back inside his impenetrable armour, in Naruto's direction. Naruto hadn't been helping because he had been focusing on his Chakra, but that changed when his eyes snapped open,he raised an arm towards the fleeing nin, and calmly uttered "Beinsho Tensei(Almighty Pull).
The result was that the man was suddenly halted in mid air and held there, unable to use the substitution because of Naruto disrupting his Chakra subconsciously with the Preta Path.
"Itachi, burn him." Naruto struggled to get out because holding a man plus the weight of the stone surrounding him in the air from this distance was taking most of his concentration.
"Fire Style: Searing Torrent" Itachi called out before spewing forth an incredibly hot fire that turned the stone into a diamond-like substance, the man obviously dead inside.
The now diamond-like shell fell to the ground and shattered into a million pieces, leaving no trace that a man was ever cased inside of it.
"One down, more to go." Naruto said before meditating in order to gather Chakra to refill after that fight. Itachi also did this, and when they were ready, they both shot off into the trees, tonight they were going hunting.
It was a couple more hours before Naruto and Itachi found a large clearing with a small group of enemy ninja building a makeshift catapult to launch their devastating earth techniques.
"Naruto, look. There's Haru, and across the clearing is Tonfi. We must either be really lucky or unlucky to have caught two at the same time." Itachi said while concealing his Chakra with Naruto.
"What is your fastest fire technique Itachi? I think I have a plan." Naruto said before relaying to Itachi the plan to eliminate the ninja.
In a concealed poof of smoke, a copy of Naruto and Itachi shot off into the woods to get into position while the originals stayed in their spot and waited for the signal.
"Almighty Pull!" "Fire Style: Flaming Arrow!" That was just what the originals were looking for, as they duplicated the attack exactly.
Haru and Tonfi were sitting around the fire on guard duty carefully watching the surrounding area for any chance of an attack. The past day had been relatively quiet, and the two were starting to get bored. They just wanted to be on the frontlines like their comrades and stick it to the Leaf Village. They were practically wishing for any attack, just so they could get some action.
It only took the sound of an attack from Haru's six-o'clock, and the feeling of Haru losing control over his gravity and being pulled roughly backwards to change that wish. Haru quickly turned around and faced his attackers in time to see a fast bolt of fire zooming towards him. Somehow, he was able to slightly dodge the arrow and threw kunai's at the silhouettes of his two attackers. They poofed away into smoke, and Haru knew that he had been played. He turned around just in time to hear a scream of pain.
Tonfi handled the attack slightly differently. When he was pulled off his feet and launched away from Haru, he turned and confronted the fire arrow head on, with an earth wall that stopped the arrow dead in its tracks. Unfortunately for Tonfi, the arrow that Haru dodged was flying towards his back, and there was nothing he could do about it. Before he knew it, the arrow pierced his heart and he screamed at the burning sensation of the flaming arrow assaulting his organs before his life disappeared completely.
"You bastards! I'll avenge Tonfi and kill you both slowly and painfully! Earth Style: Pebble Murder!" Haru yelled before small pebbles lifted off the ground and flew towards Naruto and Itachi at extreme speeds. At this speed, the pebbles functioned more like bullets from a gun, which caused Naruto to raise his arm and shout "Shinra Tensei," causing all the pebbles to launch back at Haru.
Haru dove underground and began tunneling all over the place. When ever he would surface for air, he would throw kunai and shuriken at Naruto and Itachi, forcing them to stand back to back in order to block all of them.
Suddenly, they both jumped in the air to avoid the hands that tried to grab their ankles and pull them under to their graves.
While in midair, Itachi rushed through seals and blew out a large ball of fire directly at Haru, but Haru had already disappeared again.
The two were forced to jump again and again due to the fact that Haru seemed to know he was slightly outmatched on the surface and stuck to hit and run tactics underground.
"Itachi, jump! I'll get him out of the ground," and just as they reached the peak of their ascent, Naruto bit his thumb and swiped it over his arm before running through handseals. "Summoning Jutsu: Gamaiwa!" And a semi-large poof of smoke appeared, accompained by the thud of a large toad landing on the ground.
"Gamaiwa! I need you to dig up a mole that has hidden himself underground." Naruto said before landing with Itachi behind Gamaiwa.
"Sure thing, kid! Earth Style: Mountain Terrian!" Gamaiwa yelled before slamming his hands/toad appendages onto the ground. The entire terrain changed as he did, rising up into the air to resemble a miniature mountain range. Haru was stuck with his head sticking out because of Gamaiwa's greater control over the earth disabling him from being able to move through it.
Itachi threw a well placed kunai towards Haru that was blocked by a kunai thrown from the side. Both Naruto and Itachi whirled to the side in order to escape the large amount of earth projectiles that fell where they were just standing. Both of them followed the thrown weapons back to their source and were surprised to see an average looking jonin glaring at them threateningly.
"I'll kill you two for hurting my sensei." The newcomer yelled out before rushing towards Naruto and Itachi. Itachi underestimated her attack and was struck in the chest by an earth-enhanced kick that sent him flying into a tree across the clearing, until he turned into a murder of crows and reappeared next to the girl and attempted to swipe at her exposed neck. The two engaged in a heated kenjutsu match that looked so unorganized that Naruto choose to stay out of it. He looked towards their prisoner, and was surprised to be forced to block a kick from Haru that would have taken his head clear off. Gamaiwa must have been more exhausted than he let on and went back to Mount Myoboku to recover.
While Itachi and his new opponent were busy dualing it out in a kenjutsu match, Naruto was being forced on the defensive by the savage taijutsu Haru was unleashing. Haru was practically looking like a wild animal with his wild and untimed attacks that were filled with so much power that caused him to fall off balance every time Naruto dodged instead of blocked. Pretty soon, Naruto decided that he had been on the defensive enough and pretended to fall on his back. Haru quickly seized this opportunity and sank his kunai deep inside Naruto's neck, he was so happy he avenged Tonfi, that he didn't notice that the "Naruto" he had stabbed was merely an illusion, the simplest of ninja tricks. By the time Haru actually heard the powerful whirling sound behind him, it was too late. Haru screamed as Naruto's Rasengan grated into his back and sent him spinning into a tree, dead.
"Sensei! No!" the jonin yelled before she lost her concentration and charged at Itachi, blinded by rage at the loss of her sensei. All it took was a small fire jutsu right at her face to temporarily stun her before she lost track of Itachi and felt the cool sensation of steel running across her neck before everything went black.
"Whew! That was one tough match." Naruto said before drawing all the Chakra out of the bodies and giving it back to him and Itachi.
"We are both tired, and in no condition to fight another tonight. Let's set up camp."
"Agreed." Naruto replied before he set about gathering wood for a fire, while Itachi got water from a nearby stream.
They both unsealed their camping equipment from special scrolls, along with some meat to cook.
It was overall a very successful day, and Naruto and Itachi slept well that night.
The next day, the duo set out once again in the pursuit of more ninjas to kill. Luckily for them, or unlucky depending on your viewpoint, it was almost no time at all before they located their next contact, a man named Roshi. Roshi and a small battalion of Rock nin were squaring off against an equally large group of Leaf ninja. Neither side looked like they were making much progress, but that all changed when Roshi quickly decimated the two ninja he was fighting and had shot out lava from his mouth that killed roughly one fourth of the Leaf forces.
"Careful, Itachi. That's the four-tails Jinjurikii. The reports say that he can spit out lava and can easily switch into his bijuu mode. This is going to be the first S-class nin we have fought." Naruto said while slightly trembling in excitement. This would become a testament to his and Itachi's skills, but it could also be the end of their short lives if they weren't strong enough. Either way, one side would be losing it's top shinobi, if not both.
With a small Shunshin, Naruto and Itachi appeared before Roshi, the rest of the forces having wiped themselves out.
"Ah, the Hokage's son and the genius from the Uchiha clan. Though I do detest fighting, I suppose ending you both here and now will save many lives on my part. I do hope that you two are ready to challenge me because I would hate to be disappointed." Roshi calmly said, as if discussing a trivial matter.
"Do not worry, Roshi-san. We are quiet capable shinobi, and after we have defeated you, Han is next." Itachi replied.
"Ah, my fellow Jinjurikki, Han. Host of the five-tails. I do wish you luck if you are able to survive this fight, Han has always been far stronger than I. Whereas I pride myself as being a capable shinobi, I have no trained extensively into the ground every day like Han. I do, however, know a thing or two about fighting, so without any further delay…" Roshi trailed off before settling into a fighting stance resembling an ape.
"Of course." Naruto said, settling into his taijutsu stance as well.
"Let us begin." Itachi said before rushing towards Roshi and swinging a leg around in order to knock him off balance. Naruto jumped in the air to meet Roshi after he jumped Itachi's attack, and with that one of the most critical battles of the war had begun.